photo courtesy of www.befurious.com
Despite finishing ninth on Tuesday, Marc Coma still holds a narrow overall lead in the 2011 Personal Dakar Argentina-Chile Rally. Stage 9 was won by American Jonah Street on his Yamaha. Jonah was followed by Frans Verhoven on a BMW and David Casteau on a Sherco bike for this stage.
Following closely behind Coma for the overall title are Cyril Despres and Francisco Lopez Contardo.
Today’s Stage 10 travels from Copiapo, Chile, to Chilecito, a trek of 536 miles.
In car competition, two Volkswagen Motorsports teams lead, with Nasser Saleh al-Attiyah of Qatar and Timo Gottschalk only 3 minutes ahead of teammates Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz. Finishing stage 9 in third place overall is another Volkswagen, driven by Giniel De Villiers and Dirk Von Zitzewitz.
In the heavy truck competition, two Kamaz Russian-built trucks are besting the field. Firdaus Kabirov’s team leads, with the Vladimir Chagin-led team only 4 minutes back. Third in that division, another Kamaz-built truck is several hours off the pace.
Alejandro Patronelli of Argentina leads the quad competition.
Complete current standings and information about the remaining racing, which ends on January 16, is available on the Dakar Rally website.